Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions

by Astra Taylor

Over the last decade, author and activist Astra Taylor has helped shift the national conversation on topics including technology, inequality, indebtedness, and democracy. The essays collected here reveal the range and depth of her thinking, with Taylor tackling the rising popularity of socialism, the problem of automation, the politics of listening, the possibility of rights for the natural and non-human world, the future of the university, the temporal challenge of climate catastrophe, and more. Addressing some of the most pressing social problems of our day, Taylor invites us to imagine how things could be different while never losing sight of the strategic question of how change actually happens.

Curious and searching, these historically informed and hopeful essays are as engaging as they are challenging and as urgent as they are timeless. Taylor 's unique philosophical style has a political edge that speaks directly to the growing conviction that a radical transformation of our economy and society is required.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Politics, Activism, Climate Change, Class

200 pages, Paperback

Published May 4, 2021

About the author

Astra Taylor is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and activist. Her films include Examined Life, and her books include The People’s Platform.

Reviews

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is an incredible writer and reading this is a pleasure, but I found myself quite unsure what the point was at the end. There aren’t many solutions or propositions or theories for “remaking” the world. The work was all previously published and could’ve been re-edited to build a much stronger and cohesive narrative.

[Kazen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remake the World displays the strengths and weaknesses of pulling together previously published essays in a collection. On the plus side we get to enjoy Taylor's great writing and sample a variety of her work, spanning the mid 2010s to 2020. On the down side the thematic thrust is lost around the halfway point as random topics are shoehorned in, and the differences in editing quality at different magazines is apparent.

All in all a solid collection, if wobbly in the usual way.

[Brenmlaws · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a frustratingly contradictory book. Firstly, Taylor is an excellent writer structurally, and her cutting prose is mixed with astute observations. She also takes these observations in overtly anti-capitalist directions. However, the focus seems painfully personalized, on her specific experiences in campaigns against student debt and other things that never get at the heart of the functioning of the system. Similarly, while she points at structural issues, the strange mixture of her solutions point at individual guilt assuaging measures while also describing how inadequate individual solutions are for the substantial change that is necessary. I wish genuine, revolutionary Marxist theory was better researched and understood in the US.

[Lauren Cono · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are out of sync with everything on earth and even with one another" (page 242, last essay Out of Time).

"The world is a complicated place, and we are permeable, interconnected beings subject to infection by ideas and viruses" (page 21, first essay Breathing Together).

These contemporary essays, from the last to the beginning tie the ephemeral Now and the Big Picture to our hidden past & certain future through a myriad of smaller details: linguistical insights, social justice quandaries, carboniferous capitalism realities, progressive policy possibilities, weather vs climate change definitions, human rights being extended to nature examples, technological and gender disparities, artificial border complications.

Each essay is provocative and seems to be trying to answer the question posed in Our Friends Who Live Across The Sea with its story about an Afghan refugee: "what was an intelligent and ambitious young person in his position supposed to do?" The young man himself concedes that it comes down to having been "born in a poor country" summarizing the running theme of these essays: here are the harsh realities of the present, here are the ghosts from the past, and here are the enormous reforms needed if we want to tackle issues like our debt, allegiance to capitalism, and making education a right not a privilege or a commodity. In so many realms "the status quo seems untenable" and so Astra uses powerful language to criticize and educate. A worthy read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting essay collection; maybe 3.4 stars if goodreads went to more precision in rating scheme. Good writer who keeps it moving by mixing abstraction (what is "socialism" really?) with concrete details (e.g., on student loan crisis) and analyses (should Occupy Wall Street have had more of a hierarchical leadership structure to increase impact?).

Particularly impressed by "The Insecurity Machine", which ties together various senses of "security" (secure jobs, investment securities, increased use of tech to monitor neighborhoods and homes and public places on the premise that doing so brings security).

As might be predictable in a collection of previously published essays, others were at least to me less interesting, and there is a fair amount of repetition across the essays.

Will keep an eye out for other stuff by this writer, with whom I was previously unfamiliar.

[Hunter Akridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

These essays are so prescient even if some were clearly written for the moment of pandemic lockdown and uncertainty. She has such a clear writing voice that brings in intellectual history, theory even as it is grounded in organizing work.

It has been so good to think with Astra Taylor about the things that really matter in this life, building power for those made precarious by financialized regimes of capital accumulation. I hope that the chapter, on the difference between activism and organizing is one that will change my life. The "Automation Charade" too has been wonderful to think with and is so deeply connected to my work now, trying to trouble the hype around automated vehicles, unsettling techno-solutionism in long-term care, and more.

[Alex morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astra Taylor is one of the most talented writers I've ever seen when it comes to connecting the universal struggles of modern life that we all face with deep philosophical concepts and applying a Marxist analysis to understanding these experiences.

Her ability to communicate along these lines lends itself to an exciting collection of essays that are relatable, enjoyable, and very sharable.

Highly recommend!

[Charlie Cray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Activist, film-maker and essayist Astra Taylor is a lucid observer of structural sexism, automation as ideology, technological determinism, insecurity, the politics of debt - and deep democracy. Because she has been on the front lines, she brings an edge to political topics. She writes incisively about the transformation of higher education without delving into academic jargon. This is a short collection, and yet, a gem.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've begun to realize how much my interest in certain kinds of writing depends on my exposure to the ideas... There was very little new here for me, so I found the book underwhelming. How much of that is Taylor's fault, and how much because I've been reading her books and listening to her interviews for a while now? It's possible this book of essays was a bit phoned-in. It's also possible I just don't find her thinking as shiny and provocative as I used to.

[New · Rating 4 out of 5]

taste

[Cereal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking and fascinating collection of essays. Astra Taylor writes with depth and elegance. The essay on fauxtomation was particularly eye-opening.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought some essays stuck with me more than others, but it was a really thoughtful collection of essays!